Surfing Waves

hey guys, just started surfing for the first time, just after some tips..
Whenever i come up to a big wave that has just broken right in front of me, i dont know how to get past it without wiping out... i just have to let it smash me, because i dont know how to duck dive with the board..

Any tips on how to get past the white water easily would be great.. cheers.

if a shortish board then duckdiving is the way to go. If you have a longer board then you have to turtle it. check out the lessons part of this site for some tips etc... and then come back to us if you have any specific questions or things you are confused about.

But i think you should be concentrating more on popping up and getting your balance right rather than steaming into the line-up. Just mess around on the inside catching white water foamies until you get confident at popping up then turn your attention towards getting past the break.

Practice makes perfect.

Hmm, well I have a question too.. i can usually duckdive perfectly on most waves, but the whitewash is a real challenge..
When i pop up i always seem to pop up still on the foam, and its hard to paddle. (is this normal? logically it seems normal seeing that the whitewash seems to leave behind a trail of foamy water)
also there are the waves where I duckdive and it just smashes down on top of me, any advice for those waves?

TReMoR wrote:i can usually duckdive perfectly on most waves, but the whitewash is a real challenge..
When i pop up i always seem to pop up still on the foam, and its hard to paddle. (is this normal? logically it seems normal seeing that the whitewash seems to leave behind a trail of foamy water)

Yup, that's normal. You just need to go as deep as you can and really commit to getting the board down as long as you can. Practise

TReMoR wrote:also there are the waves where I duckdive and it just smashes down on top of me, any advice for those waves?

About the only advice here is to be somewhere else. When a big wave impacts on you, you're probably going to lose
So pick a good route and moment to go out. Sometimes though, its just gonna happen

haha ok! thanks :]

TReMoR wrote:Hmm, well I have a question too.. i can usually duckdive perfectly on most waves, but the whitewash is a real challenge..
When i pop up i always seem to pop up still on the foam, and its hard to paddle. (is this normal? logically it seems normal seeing that the whitewash seems to leave behind a trail of foamy water)
also there are the waves where I duckdive and it just smashes down on top of me, any advice for those waves?

Its pretty easy to duck under an unbroken wave even if it its DOH+ but to get under whitewater on even a medium day is much harder. You need to get as much depth as possible and don't surface too early that way you miss most the drag/froth. It also helps to try to paddle to the weakest point i.e where the broken wave looks weakest. On really big days DOH++ it gets a little bit more tricky and sometimes is just not doable. You see a lot of big wave riders using their board as diving board and scuba under Guess thats the best way to get under a broken 16ft+ wall of foam

As for getting smashed on the head. This happens when you are attempting to duck a wave right at impact zone i.e the most powerfull point. I have taken some nasty beatings from this. Not much you can do other than hope you have enough momentum to get you under or you just timed it right. But on a bigger day i ddont care if you super duckdiver if you get the lip crashing on you and its just the right timing you will get thrashed. Incidentally its the only time that chucking your board is not the worst thing to do and certaintly i wouldnt blame anyone if they did (naturally as long as no one behind you otherwise take the thrashing) but the energy released is significant and as a result your leash could snap or your board (seen that happen a few times) but its better than having your body snapped me thinks - yup getting caught at impact zone is one of the worst places to be

So in short watch where the waves are breaking - aim for the weakest part - avoid getting directly into impact zone. So time it as best you can even if it means hanging back for a while until the madness passes.

As said above when diving dive as deep as you can go and try to propel yourself far as you can go so when you come up your farther from where you started. Also I always come up paddling, just like an initial dive into the pool when swimming laps, so I am building momentum just in case I have another wave to duck under.

When I go into big stuff my 'last resort' is to look behind to make sure nobody is there shove the board to the shore and then swim for the sand on the bottom of the sea !
Problems are though - leash might snap, you get a wired dragging backwards into the impact zone and worst of all - you surface, the 'board is being held under water so you have no floatation and another biggie is gonna smack you down ! That IS a problem if you try this technique.

haha yeah! I hate that feeling when you know the wave is going to break right on top of you.. and you suddenly feel something smash onto your back even when you are under water..
and duckdiving whitewash just DRAINS the energy out of me.. When the surf is windblown its like im on some demented treadmill.
but i have to say the worst is.. when you paddle ..and you either duckdive incorrectly or try to go over it.. and you actually think you are safe for a second.... then after a pause you know ur fked.. cuz you get dragged back into the wave at supersonic speed. lol

yeah, there was a couple of weeks in california where the waves were just MASSIVE! Sometimes it was over 10 feet. I didnt even try to go, because we have a jetty on my beach and when it gets massive, the waves on the other side break and it gets a good 4-6 feet. Yeahhh.. i chickened out :[

esonscar wrote:When I go into big stuff my 'last resort' is to look behind to make sure nobody is there shove the board to the shore and then swim for the sand on the bottom of the sea !
Problems are though - leash might snap, you get a wired dragging backwards into the impact zone and worst of all - you surface, the 'board is being held under water so you have no floatation and another biggie is gonna smack you down ! That IS a problem if you try this technique.

yup that is a risk indeed. trouble is that theres no real way of getting under something bigger than a house. Its very good to actually watch some clips of guys surfing large waves and watch how they deal with it. Very often you see them using their board as a diving board - they get up on it and dive off - interesting technique which i have used before, pretty effective. Also notice they mainly do this if its a column of whitewater steaming towards them. From my own experience duckdiving under DOH of whitewater is a sketchy prospect and TOH is ermmmm NO

i think its just a matter of conditions that day
usually what ive found is that
reef breaks for the most part are easier waves to duck dive
and high tide is when its easiest to duck dive
also
usually when the whitewater looks like its boiling right after impact
thats when you will have trouble
taking channels is pretty good
but the problem with that is usually when you have a channel on a big day
that same channel is where the really strong side current that pulls you from the peak is at

the best tip is : timing, and placement you want to be a really fast paddler and you want to go out in a diagonal line
going where the side current is just about your capabilities in being able to fight it off and aim for the shoulder of the peak
if you can master that youll find that you will rarely encounter white water that just broke unless you time your paddle out, right as outside sets are starting to break in combo.

if youre beach is quiet chuck ur board behind you and dive under the wave and swin out behind it, its alot easier way to get out back when ur break is quiet, and saves ur arms for paddling when catching waves. aslong as you get deep you wont get wiped out.

go as deep as you can, don't let go of your board as it will help you surface faster, as soon as you get to the surface start paddling as fast as you can to try to get away from the next white water, a good duck dive and arm strength is needed to get past the white water and away from the impact zone, you don't want it to push you back, knock your board of your hands so by the time you get back on your board the next white water will work you harder. get a good impulse from your feet to get deeper.

ESSENTIAL NOTE TO ALL:

Don't be heroes;

I have very often gone back to shore sat on the beach and waited for quite some time for a lull in the waves, then paddled past the impact zone to outside in relative comfort.

It’s the impact zone that does you in !

esonscar wrote:ESSENTIAL NOTE TO ALL:

Don't be heroes;

I have very often gone back to shore sat on the beach and waited for quite some time for a lull in the waves, then paddled past the impact zone to outside in relative comfort.

It’s the impact zone that does you in !

I've done that walk of shame a couple times.. haha. Walking back defeated on the first try. It's kinda rough, but It's okay though, as long as you try again. If you quit and go home.. sad times.

BoarderDave wrote:

esonscar wrote:ESSENTIAL NOTE TO ALL:

Don't be heroes;

I have very often gone back to shore sat on the beach and waited for quite some time for a lull in the waves, then paddled past the impact zone to outside in relative comfort.

It’s the impact zone that does you in !

I've done that walk of shame a couple times.. haha. Walking back defeated on the first try. It's kinda rough, but It's okay though, as long as you try again. If you quit and go home.. sad times.

Hey dude - It's not a walk of shame – it’s to get outside !

Why get annihilated in the impact zone during sets when half an hour watching and waiting for a lull means you get outside no worries.

Admittedly if you are not able to get outside even at a lull then you should not be there as when the big stuff comes its bigger then you have been battling against – don’t do what ain’t safe for your limits be it two feet or twenty!

Seriously – sitting and waiting is not shameful – it just shows you have common sense and resolve.

I can’t even count the number of times I have been sat on the beach waiting for a lull and seen surfers go in and get ploughed, beaten, dragged arse backwards, dumped and hurled through the abyss and gasping for air as their ‘board gets tombstoned - then a lull comes and I simply paddle out back quick smart and never see the superhero surfers again !